ZolaIII
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S8 & Meizu Pro are CS43131 while 9038S is guess what? (ESS9038Q2M) They are all not polite fast sharp and a bit bright so soundstage ain't huge.soundstage? a DAC?
S8 & Meizu Pro are CS43131 while 9038S is guess what? (ESS9038Q2M) They are all not polite fast sharp and a bit bright so soundstage ain't huge.soundstage? a DAC?
All three are DAC/Amps and the Meizu in particular has often been described as sounding super narrow.soundstage? a DAC?
Meh... That works on Samsung smartphones with Android 9 or later only. Sony Xperias for instance have twice as much volume steps.Hi soundwave,
I too used to be quite bothered by the too large and too few volume steps on Android,
until I installed this app by Samsung:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.samsung.android.soundassistant
It allows to easily and globally change the volume at a certain level,
and the Android steps (e.g. through the volume buttons) are used to fine-tune that level,
and it includes many other controls (balance, EQ), also storing settings app-wise, etc.
for me it is indispensable.
BTW my Sonata HD Pro just arrived today, and I am still waiting for my Hidi
Got my S8. Listening to it now. I’ll measure it tomorrow and report back.
I’m in progress. I don’t like very much what I see so I’ll checking it in few configurations. It doesn’t work with ASIO4ALL on Windows, so I’ve switched to Mac now.Waiting for your measurements... hesitate between waiting the #9038D and buy the S8 to replace my Meizu Hifi Dac (i love this tiny thing, but in nomad use this kind of dongle was not the most appropriate for me...)
I’m in progress. I don’t like very much what I see so I’ll checking it in few configurations. It doesn’t work with ASIO4ALL on Windows, so I’ve switched to Mac now.
Sure I have ADI-2 Pro FSOk I know amir are the same problem.
You don't have any soundcard with proprietary ASIO driver ?
Maybe consider sending Amir the beam 2Anything else, I think I will buy Hilidac Audirect Beam 2 ... the #9038D is too long to be released... to IVX
Thanks for measuring! Hmm, any chance of adding your MacBook's own output as well? Would be curious to see how good it isSo, here it is. My little review and measurements.
First of all I want to say that hardware volume buttons work very strangely and it annoyed me much during measurements. For example full scale sine signal with full hardware volume shows 1.897 Vrms but 1 click down sometimes shows 1.117 Vrms and sometimes 1.254 Vrms. Furthermore when I did few clicks down then few up sometimes I got 1.410 Vrms - it is 1 click before full volume. WTF?!?!?
For measurements I was using RME ADI-2 PRO FS connected to notebook running Windows 10 with official RME ASIO drivers.
I generated WAV test file with REW and played it on:
1) MacBook 12 with Audirvana player
2) Google Pixel 3 XL with HibyMusic
So far I measured only left channel.
Noise measurement performance was limited because I was using unbalanced input. I'm going to make an adapter for balanced/mono to maximize noise measurement performance next time.
Let's start with No load (DAC mode) measurements:
View attachment 47180
View attachment 47181
And just for reference:
View attachment 47182
So what we have here is same -108 dB noise level but S8 THD a bit better than RME Phone out with comparable output level.
Next 35 Ohm load measurements:
View attachment 47184
View attachment 47186
Here S8 clips at Full Volume. That is about 100 mW power.
View attachment 47194
View attachment 47195
Just 1 Click down we have much better THD -103.8 dB but noticeably less volume.
So the last one I did with full hardware volume and software volume at -1.2 dB:
View attachment 47199
Here we have about 63 mW of power without clipping and at least -107 dB noise.
That's it. I'll share my listening experience later. Your questions are welcome.
Android or Apple? Android 9 has volume limitation which you can get around by using apps like UAPPI just got the Sonata HD Pro, and it sounds like its barely louder than the Apple dongle. Not trusting my ear in testing loudness though.
edit: did a rough ear test with YT vids, 20 on the Sonata is a bit louder than 30 on the Apple, so I guess its good enough for my powered speaker
any way to measure any of the dac-amp values using just a multimeter? I can do measure the impedance roughly, I think.
HiByMusic is free and also bit perfect with USB, but software volume disabledAndroid or Apple? Android 9 has volume limitation which you can get around by using apps like UAPP
Yes, there are a number of apps that can do this. However, UAPP allows you to do it systemwide, so apps like Spotify can also take advantage of the extra volume which Google decided you shouldn't have from your USB DAC/Amp full potential.HiByMusic is free and also bit perfect with USB, but software volume disabled
Didn’t know that. Is it work systemwide without root?Yes, there are a number of apps that can do this. However, UAPP allows you to do it systemwide, so apps like Spotify can also take advantage of the extra volume which Google decided you shouldn't have from your USB DAC/Amp full potential.
Yes, but you may need to reset after every boot. I have one rooted and one un-rooted device. Both work the same way.Didn’t know that. Is it work systemwide without root?
Let's start with No load (DAC mode) measurements: